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Mole Miner
Phelan Morkel|theme_music_composer = and (Seasons 1-5) (Seasons 6-7)|opening_theme = "I'm The Mole Miner (And That's Just Great)" (Seasons 1-5) "Ode to a Mole Miner" (Seasons 6-7)|ending_theme = "I'm The Mole Miner (And That's Just Great)" (Semi-instrumental) (Seasons 1-2, 5) Songs from Mole Miner - Darren's Mixtape (Seasons 3-4) "Ode to a Mole Miner" (Semi-instrumental) (Seasons 6-7)|composer(s) = (Seasons 1-5) and (Seasons 6-7)|no_of_seasons = 7|no_of_episodes = 119|executive_producer(s) = Norman Lear|producer(s) = Phelan Morkel |running_time = 22 minutes (two shorts per episode)|production_company(s) = Jazz Television Media (seasons 1-5) (seasons 6-7)|distributor(s) = Seagrounds Television|original_network = |original_release = November 5, 2001 - February 14, 2007}} is a Japanese-American animated series produced by , Jazz Television Media, and with animation produced by for seasons 1-5 and for seasons 6 and 7. The series premiered on November 5, 2001 on . The series ran for 7 seasons from 2001 to 2007 and ran for 119 episodes, being one of the longest-running PBS Kids series. Currently, the franchise is owned by Seagrounds Financial Group, who acquired the series in 2014 after distributor Alfred Haber Distribution Co. wrote the series off for tax purposes. Synopsis Darren, an anthropomorphic mole miner, works the mines in a mineral-rich region alongside other moles and at the same time teaches the audience middle-school-level knowledge about geology, engineering, history of mining, and industrial uses of different minerals. Production Creator Phelan Morkel was only a high schooler when his comic Darren the Mole Miner was featured in the school paper of in in 1996. The comic gained national attention for it's teaching of geology and the history of mining and Morkel soon signed a deal with to release collections of the comic. In 1999, Morkel was approached by to produce a television series adapted from the comic. Lear and Morkel pitched the series to in 2000. Executives from the broadcaster immediately greenlit the series for a initial season of 20 episodes. Lear's Act III Productions worked with -based Jazz Television Media (a division of the Asheville-based advertising agency HRV Advertising, who made donations for funding PBS programming through their charitable arm The Harry R. Voskanyan Foundation) to produce the series, and hired the Japanese company to produce the animation for the series and the -based to provide the voice recording and casting. Morkel originally wanted the series to run for 5 seasons, but the series ended up running for 7 seasons and 119 episodes due to it's popularity with PBS member stations. One of the changes that came about with the "uncancellation" of the series was a change in animation studio, as Group TAC was replaced with for seasons 6 and 7. According to Phelan Morkel, the -based P.A.Works was found to be much cheaper than the -based Group TAC by the producers at Act III and Jazz Television Media. Cast Main * (seasons 1-5), Enyu Ni (seasons 6-7) as Darren, a young miner in his 20s who has been working at the mines since he was 19. Darren, a European mole, has several main philosophies in life, some of which are passed on to the other miners, chief among them is his catchphrase "What gets done, is done!". Darren is the son of a beaver and a mole, and has two brothers (a mole, Warren, and a beaver, Craig, respectively) and a half-beaver, half-mole sister named Barbara (who is not deformed, but has the body of a mole and the buck teeth and tail of a beaver). * as Philippe, the star-nosed mole manager of the mines. He is of Belgian French origin and speaks with a French accent. * as Janin, Darren's love interest and one of the first few female miners the company hired (around the same time Darren got hired). She is a southern marsupial mole, and due to having incomplete eyes (as with actual members of the species) she wears glasses. * as Vernon, Darren's unstable seventh cousin, 10-times removed. A long-tailed mole, he is often the one responsible for demolitions at the mines, and is often seen wearing a T-shirt with "I am a bomb technician. If you see me running try to keep up" on the back. He was originally created by MAD magazine artist Tuomo Harkimo for a 1999 parody in the magazine, but Phelan Morkel was impressed by the spoof that he asked if he could make Vernon an official character, to which Harkimo accepted the offer. * as Harry, a European mole and one of Darren's closest friends since childhood. He drives the Harr-a-mobile, a 1980s van which is one of the few vehicles owned by the miners that actually runs. * as Georgie, a Brooklyn-accented eastern mole and career criminal who initially found work at the mine as a during a mid-1990s labor strike while on parole from a supermax prison. He has since become one of Darren's fellow miners. * as Roddy, a beaver who is the resident mechanic at the mines. He is also the network administrator for the mine's computer systems and wrote the -based software which runs the computerized equipment. * as Sharon, a long-tailed mole and Vernon's "more stable" sister. She was hired due to Roddy having a crush on her despite Sharon having lack of experience in mining, so Sharon ended up being taught by Janin and Darren how to do her job. List of episodes List of episodes here The following seasons were aired: * Season 1 (2001-2002) * Season 2 (2002-2003) * Season 3 (2003-2004) * Season 4 (2004) - Aired in the first half of the same year as the first half of Season 5. * Season 5 (2004-2005) - First half aired in the latter half of the same year as Season 4. * Season 6 (2005-2006) * Season 7 (2006-2007) Category:Fictional TV series Category:TV series Category:Animated series Category:Fictional animated series Category:PBS Kids Category:Mole Miner